Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126845
(Above) M ike Baker tests his Yamaha 's suspension on the IT J ump. (Below) Ricky Graham (9) and Chris Carr (7) battle in the dirt track heat . R oad race he at Superbi ke road race phenom Kevin Sc h wan tz surprised th e field by gra bbi ng the holeshot in the road race heat. T h e Texa n, dressed i n day-g lo o ra n ge pants and helmet, was fo llow ed into turn o ne by Davi d Aldana . Rainey was third with Lawson fourth. Rainey, how ever, wasn 't wasting a ny time a n d he cru ised around th e o u tside o f Schwantz in th e dirt track sweeper while Lawson zap ped Aldana and shortl y a fter n ailed d own Sch wantz, At the en d of the fir st lap th e order read: Rainey, Lawson, Schwantz, Al dana, Kerry Bryant and Scott Gray. Lawson started to gain ground on R a iney by charging hard a nd wide, a la Chris Carr, into the dirt track sweeper. Meanwhile, Aldana ca ug h t up to Schwantz. but crashed in th e hairpin pri or to goin g onto th e dirt. Rainey turned a one -mi n u te, 49seco nd la p on la p three, but Lawson turned up th e wick and sta rte d to pressure th e H onda rid er o n the fourth lap. La p five saw Ra in ey an d Lawson side -by-side goi ng into th e dirt oval co rner with La wso n o n th e ou tside an d Rainey on the ins ide . Law son so me how got by on the mo tocross sec tion ofthe track on the last lap to ta ke th e win. Schwa ntz held o n to th ird wi th Aldana remou nti n g for fourth place. Semi Grav . whose first ti me o n a d ir t bike was o n lv a few davs before th e race, met with disaster on the wa rmu p la p for the sem i whe n he cra sh ed - on th e d irt. T he ra ce, ho wever, went o n wi thout him a nd Ekl u nd grabbed the hol esh ot ahead of po le sitter Aldana. Ekl u nd, on th e Wh ite Bro s. ATK, sta rted to pull away fro m the res t wit h relati ve ease . A good battle for second wa s in th e works as Manley, Aldana , H olley a nd Boody were go i ng a t it, but th e big story was Ca rr. After sta rt ing from th e third row , the yo u n g Cal ifornian was m aking up serious time a nd ga ining on th e lead pa ck , By lap three, Ca rr had blasted by every one but Eklund, Manley and Holley and he wasn 't sto p p ing there. On th e last lap, Holley shot by Manley going into turn one and Carr followed su i t up th e flat-out tarmac hill. At th e ch ecker s it was Eklund, Holley an d Carr filling o u t the fi na l while Man ley co u ld on ly look to next time. Final Su ns h ine tu rned to co ld a nd windy co n dit ions wh ile th e riders gridded for th e fina l. With ABC doing interviews a n d retak es prior to th e start, the fin al was dela yed. " My m uscles sta rte d to seize u p ." Lawson lat er sai d . T ea m Kaw asak i had no p roblems wit h sei zed m uscles as Ward a nd Howerton, o nce aga in, led th e pa ck into turn one a t the sta rt o f th e 12-la p fin al. Lawson a nd Rainev were in h ot pursuit setting up a road race vs. mo tocross showdown . T he first lap action was fierce as Ra iney, Law son a nd H ow ert on neg o tia ted th e T'T ju m p th ree a breas t while chasi ng Wa rd . Fa rther ba ck in th e pack. Geboe rs went in to the hairpi n a li tt le (A bove) Brian Manley (1 9 ) leads Johnny O'Mara (6), Jeff Hicks (14) and J im Holley on the pavement. (Below) Kevin Schwantz slides his Yamaha. quick and tangled with first H olley a n d th en Schwantz. The orde r a t the end of the first lap read: Ward, Rainey, Lawson, Howerton , Graham , Sh obert a nd Eklund. La wso n, however , took second go ing in to th e hai rpin after drafting Rainey u p th e hil l..The two road racers were gaining on Wa rd as Ra iney agai n got by Lawson , On the third lap, Ward turned a 1:48.9 lap, but Lawson was by Ra iney and visibl y gaining on th e leader. On the fou rth go-around , Lawson took the lead for the fir st time as he we nt by Ward on th e dirt sweepe r. The 1984 World Champion seemed det ermi ned to regain hi s Superbikers title and started to o pen lip a lead . Ward, wh ile lo sin g gro u n d to the Yamaha pil ot, was steadi ly pulling a way from Ra in ey. By'. lap seven , La wso n h ad a 3.7-seco n d lea d on Ward as H owerton was begi n ni ng to th rea ten Ra iney. Th e T ea m H onda di rt tra ck d uel wa s sha p in g lip as Gra ha m and Shohe n were swappi ng position s every la p. L' p fro nt. La wson was in th e cr uise co nt ro l mode while lapping in th e low one-m in u te, 47-seco nd range. H owert on got by Rainey to star t th e ninth lap a nd began to charge after a fadi n g Ward. The semi-retired Howerton powered by Ward on the 10th lap and the scuffle allowed Ra iney to also gain on the 250cc National Motocross and Su percross champion. On th e last lap. Rainey got Ward o n th e dirt ova l sweeper a nd held him off to finish third. Lawso n took a si x-seco nd lead to th e checkers with a rej uven at ed H ow ert on ta king second . The battle for fifth went to Graham wi th Shobert ' hold ing on for sixth. Seve nth place went to Eklu nd fo llo wed by Ca rr , Geboers, Schwantz a nd Ba ker . " I enjoyed it until the last lap," Lawson said. " O n the las t lap it was • ' O ka y dummy , don 't fall off."· Result s FINAL: 1. Eddie Lawson (Ya m); 2. Ken t Howerton (Ka w ); 3. W ayn e Raine y (Hon); 4 . J eff Ward (Ka w t 5. Ricky Graha m (Hon); 6. Bubba Shobert (Hon); 7. Steve Eklu nd (A TK); 8. Chr is Carr IW · R); 9. Eri c Geboers (Hon); 10 . Kevin SChwant2 (Yam ); 11. Mike Baker (Yam ): 12 . Jim Holley (Yam). 9